As wireless networks evolve and grow, there are ongoing challenges in communicating data across different types of networks. For example, a wireless network may include one or more access nodes, such as base stations, for providing wireless voice and data service to wireless devices in various coverage areas of the one or more access nodes. Wireless networks may be configured to utilize a single-user multiple-in multiple-out (SU-MIMO) operating mode and/or a multi-user (MU-MIMO) mode. In the SU-MIMO operating mode, multiple data streams are directed towards individual wireless devices. In the MU-MIMO operating mode, the multiple data streams can be directed towards plural wireless devices that are selected to participate in the MU-MIMO operating mode based on the orthogonality of transmission, thereby maximizing resources. In a recent evolution of MIMO technology, known as massive MIMO or large-scale MIMO, an access node may utilize hundreds of antennae to simultaneously transmit each of a plurality of different data streams to a corresponding plurality of wireless devices. Massive MIMO has been identified as one of the promising air interface technologies to address the massive data rate or throughput capacity requirement demanded by wireless devices that operate using new communication protocols including, but not limited to, a Fifth Generation mobile networks or wireless systems (5G) protocol.
However, coupling the high performance capabilities of newer communication protocols with MIMO systems, such as SU-MIMO, MU-MIMO, and massive MIMO using any form of MIMO in a wireless network may create problems. For instance, the addition of a new wireless device that requests access to the wireless network using the newer communication protocol may potentially create a data bottleneck in either the uplink or downlink data path for signals being delivered to one or more of the other wireless devices already in the wireless network using the newer communication protocol. The addition of the wireless device may limit the performance of one or more services to some or all of the wireless devices already currently on the network, particularly if these devices are using services that work best using the newer, higher performance communication protocols. Thus, there is a need to identify and manage wireless devices in a wireless network when a large number of wireless devices are simultaneously utilizing the high performance operating characteristics of new communication protocols with MIMO in a wireless network.